Since the opening of the China-Laos Railway, cross-border trade and transportation has been upward, and the types of cross-border goods have been increased, including agriculture products, daily provisions, automobiles, home appliances, electronics, photovoltaic items, minerals, fertilizers, and other more than 100 types of commodities. China mainly transports daily provisions, fertilizers, electronics, photovoltaic items, textiles, and vegetables to Laos, while Laos mainly transports agricultural products such as rubbers, coix seeds, and tapioca, metal ores such as iron ores and zinc concentrates to China.
The China-Laos Railway not only serves the trade between China and Laos but also provides a new mode of transportation for agriculture products trade between China and Thailand. When Thai agriculture products are exported to China via the China-Laos Railway, the transportation cost is reduced by nearly one-half compared to the traditional way. The railway has become a green channel for Thai agriculture transported to China because it significantly saves time and transportation costs. Now the peak season of tropical fruits has come in Thailand, a large number of Thai specialties such as durian, mangosteen, and coconut are on the way to China via the China-Laos railway.
At present, the China-Laos Railway transport network has spread to Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, and other countries along the Belt and Road Initiative. After the international freight from these countries are transported via the China Laos Railway into Yunnan Province, some of them are distributed by railway and road networks to SW China, Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and other regions in China. Others are transferred to the European market by China-Europe freight trains on the Silk Road. The role of the china-Laos railway as a “golden channel” for international logistics has become increasingly prominent.
